Gutsy Lions conjure up moments of brilliance to topple Edinburgh and end tour unbeaten

During their glory years between 2015 and 2018 in Super Rugby, the Lions were known as masters of taking initiative.

Four years later, as competitors in the northern hemisphere, they're rapidly morphing into the kings of the counterattack, an outfit increasingly become more comfortable closing out matches where they aren't on the front foot.

That trait was showcased in all its glory on Friday night as Ivan van Rooyen's troops concluded an outstanding URC tour with a thrilling 22-19 victory over Edinburgh at the DAM Stadium.

The triumph means they return to South Africa unbeaten in all three of their matches.

For a significant chunk of an enthralling if somewhat flawed contest, the hosts - with a superior international pedigree - seemed primed to finally subdue their nuggety opponents, only for the Lions to somehow conjure up a piece of thoroughly unexpected magic.

Inspired by two magnificent enforcers in the loose trio, Francke Horn and Ruan Venter, the Lions were nerveless in continuing to employ a defensive pattern based more on tackling commitment than structure.

In fact, Edinburgh were able to regularly win decent field position by exploiting the Lions' lack of organisation though it was only really when the barnstorming No 8 Viliame Mata - who was at the heart of the maul that opened the scoring - powerful break from close range allowed the ball to move down the line for the prolific Darcy Graham to score in the right corner.

The rest of the time the Lions were content to soak up the pressure and then go for the strike, be it on defence or attack.

The fact that they were able to enforce three more turnovers than the hosts told a story.

More importantly, with mere scraps of possession and territory - those to metrics were at